A little knowledge goes a long way. Quizzing adventures in Ireland.

Posts Tagged ‘bbc’

Secret Fortune is a BBC/National Lottery game show that is broadcast on BBC One, on Saturday evenings. Donegal native Paddy Duffy is a writer, working on the second series of the show.

I’ve written previously about my dream to someday invent the next Who Wants to be a Millionaire (and thus make my fortune). With this long-standing ambition in place, you’ll guess how excited I was to find out that Paddy Duffy, an old friend and fellow alumnus of the NUI Galway Quiz Society, is currently a question writer on UK quiz show Secret Fortune. I had a little chat with Paddy last week and asked him to tell us all about it.

I admitted to Paddy that I hadn’t been too aware of Secret Fortune. I tend to change channel whenever I hear that a program related to the lottery (any of them) is coming on next. How does it work?

“So, as you do know, it’s in sync in with the National Lottery. People can win anything from £100 to £100,000, with 24 monetary values inside 24 envelopes.”

I interrupted at this point. This sounds awfully like another, well-known TV show that I hate…

“Well the (prima facie) closeness to Deal Or No Deal is definitely something to be overcome, but the similarity begins and ends with numbers and opening things, thankfully!” (more…)

I received an email from Presentable Productions at the end of last week informing me that they are currently seeking contestants for the upcoming series of Only Connect on BBC Four.

Only Connect is a particularly hard quiz in which teams of three are presented with clues/facts and have to work out the connection between them. You can find some examples of these on its Wikipedia page.

As you must now be aware, this blog primarily concerns itself with my experiences on the table quiz circuit. By now you also know that’s just as glamourous as it sounds!

Well, just like any good pro (or determined amateur), I find that it’s impossible to put the brain to rest just because you’re not actually taking part in a competitive event.

The sport similie breaks down at this point though as I’ve never been the type who prepares for quizzing like it’s a sporting event. I’ve known some – reading through almanacs and encyclopaedia on their spare time. One day, when I was in college, I popped into a service station to pick up some sweets to find a quizzing acquaintance working the till. It had been a quiet afternoon for him, obviously, as he had a copy of that year’s Who’s Who open on the counter. Not my idea of a fun read.

So, obviously I play along with other quizzing endeavour when I can. Here are some of my favourites.